Live Gigs: How much MIDI integration?

[vonnor]

I've been curious for a while, seeing live rig pix up here and noticing a lot of folks are Old-School - One or more boards, but only running audio out with no cables plugged into MIDI jacks. Some folks rigs I can see USB cables in-use maybe driving an iPad or mac-book sound source. Others (like myself) with full-blown MIDI matrix routing from all controllers to all sound sources.

 

How much, or how little MIDI do you all use when playing a live show, and how is it all routed?

 

Where do you place yourself on the scale between Hardware & Software, Old-school & Techie?

 

No judgements, just rig-tech discussion.

 

~ vonnor

[EscapeRocks]

welllllll

 

My answer:   Everything is always connected to each other regardless of hardware only, Mainstage/GigPerfomer only, or a hybrid.

 

Currently I am working on a hardware rig with Yamaha 88 note board and Roland Jupiter 80.   MIDI together so they can play each other.  The Jupiter calls the patch on both.

 

When using VST, usually have a hardware 61/76 board (MODX6 or Jupiter 80)

I use the touch screen to call the patch and it send that PC to Mainstage or GP, which then sets everything else needed.

In that case it's USB.

 

So I am both old school and techie, having been using MIDI since I first encountered it way back with my then new Prophet 600 and Cakewalk on an Apple 2

 

[erik_nie]

There is a lot to gain when all boards en VSTs are connected together.
I did those things with Mainstage, many different boards, complex routings. Midi and USB stuff.
In the end I was able to make the best mix of VST and synths. 
However, keeping everything working with updates on Mainstage, MacOS, different synths and VST was difficult.
Hardly any issue (except for a Mainstage update dat made CPU go up to 100%). Still I was not sure to fully rely on my setup.
Brought a second macbook, some modules, bag of spare cables.

 

Now I just use a Nord Piano 5 and Stage 3. Bread and butter sounds in both, so could get the gig done in case one board fails.

Easy to setup. Use my own app for lyrics and midi-triggers on an iPad.

 

I use a iPad 6 mini with an USB hub that can also function as power-source. From that Hub I use a simple USB audio-interface, and two cables to the two Nords with USB midi.
As a backup I have all cables as spare and a second USB-C hub. I can use my Phone (iPhone 16) as backup with the same app (data is on iCloud, so automatically updated).

This setup is easy to transport with limited setup time.
Perhaps not as powerfull as other setups, but I play only live and use mid-end PA systems. 
If I  need a sound from a VST or sample, I just use the Nord sample Manager and transfer. I know, no multi-level samples, but nobody will hear this live.

 

Very happy with this setup!!!

YMMV!

 

[ABECK]

USB to connect an iPad or Mac for VIs and patch switching.  Haven't used a 5 pin MIDI cable live in years.  

[Delaware Dave]

Midi into my gemini module.  Its the workhorse of my rig for old school sounds like organ/leslie, rhodes, wurli, clav, brass, vox, cp80, acoustic piano, etc..  

[Mighty Motif Max]

I have two general types of rigs that I run.

 

Type 1 has no midi usage - just two separate boards (usually an SK Pro plus a MODX7 or Fantom 7).

 

Type 2 uses one keyboard as the sound source and “brain”, with the second functioning as a controller only. One MIDI Out from the controller to MIDI In on the main board, and that’s it. This works better with keyboards where you either have a bunch of zones available on the controller or can freely assign sounds to midi channels on the sound-source board. I just did a gig this weekend with my MODX and an older house S80 as the bottom board. That basically just controlled everything on the MODX but gave me a hammer action. My preferred version of this rig in the past was my Motif XF8 plus a 61-key controller up top, where I had different things assigned to the controller vs the main board. The MODX is more limited in that area, but the Montage M line is back to having at least some version of that capability, so that may be something I look at down the road.

 

I did do a few gigs some years back where I used my Korg Krome with the KeyStage iOS app for patch changes/set lists, since the Krome has no capabilities in that area. So that used a midi adapter and iPad IIRC.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Prior to the pandemic, I was doing a pretty intense mix of analog, digital, and MIDI gear -- an iPad if not a full MacBook running Mainstage, software instruments, bluetooth and wired MIDI, audio from digital boards that I could also use as controllers, even occasionally some electromechanical boards that I would run through virtual amps in Mainstage.

 

After gigs started happening again after Covid hit, I realized I just didn't have the patience for it all anymore. I have one MIDI cable that connects my Roland bass pedals to either my Crumar Mojo or my Korg synthesizer so I can kick bass. The rest is just audio into a mixer.

[ABECK]

It's funny - after this thread and the "Single Keyboard" thread, I'm inspired to do my next gig with just a single board.  No Ipad integration.  No computer.   I'm leaning towards the K2700, but could also go for the Gemini DMC122.  Depends on the ratio of piano/EP to Organ on the setlist.  It's been a while since I had a super fast setup time!  (I admittedly get jealous of the bass player in that regard).

[Delaware Dave]

3 hours ago, ABECK said:

It's funny - after this thread and the "Single Keyboard" thread, I'm inspired to do my next gig with just a single board.  No Ipad integration.  No computer.   I'm leaning towards the K2700, but could also go for the Gemini DMC122.  Depends on the ratio of piano/EP to Organ on the setlist.  It's been a while since I had a super fast setup time!  (I admittedly get jealous of the bass player in that regard).

 

Put a Vent on the K2700's dry organ and there really isnt going to be anything soundwise that is disappointing.  I sometimes do this w/ the Forte, with an external leslie sim all the bases are covered.

[Justin Havu]

I did the whole software/MainStage/MIDI thing years ago.  After the pandemic, I swore I'd never go back to that again.  Too many problems in the past with latency, program changes, etc.

 

Below is my "big rig" (pic taken earlier this year, as I sold the DM12 a month ago and replaced it with an original Quadrasynth).  It allows me to get nearly any sound I want to get, plenty of room for calling up things on the fly, as most of my playing is improvisational.  Oh, and I hate doing any patch changes in the middle of a song, so having a big setup eliminates that.  Furthermore, if anything should fail, I have plenty of backup options.

 

Depending on the band, and the music, I'll probably leave the B-Oddy and the QS home, and swap the M8X with my CK88.  No MIDI whatsoever on any configuration.  Just power, audio, and a few pedals.  Only thing I use my iPad for is to control my submixer (XR18.)

 

[Moonglow]

Hardware only, no software. Not that I’m against software, a very good friend of mine uses an entirely software rig, and it sounds phenomenal. I just don’t have the time to dedicate myself to the learning curve, although it could be a fun retirement project in about 3-5 years. 😎

 

My MIDI experience began in the mid-1980s, using a Yamaha KX-88 controller and a DX-7 connected to a “telephone booth” of rack modules (e.g., E-mu Emax, Roland D-550, Roland MXS-80, Kurzweil 1000px) and MIDI processing gear (e.g., Digital Music MX-8, Yamaha MEP4). In the late-1990s I replaced the KX-88 and MIDI processors with a Kurzweil K2600x, which served as the “brains” of my rig, and swapped sound modules in/out of the rack (e.g., Korg TR-Rack, Korg Triton-Rack, Yamaha Motif-Rack ES).

 

Around 2011, I completely revamped my rig, doing away with the rack, and have been using a Korg Kronos 88 as a performance controller connected to a Roland Jupiter-80 with a single MIDI cable, which I use to this date. I also have a “lite” version of this rig, a Kronos 2 61 and a Jupiter-50, configured in a similar fashion.

[nursers]

2-board rig at gigs. Bottom one is hardware but connected to Mainstage for patch switching. Top board is a MIDI controller using Mainstage / Plugins. Like others severely tempted to move to one board..

[Stokely]

I've had rudimentary midi through the years, periodically.   Back in the day it was a JX-10 controlling an emu Proteus--I don't remember how I set that up midi-wise with splits/layers.   I do recall I used the Proteus' submixer option, where you could bring sound sources in via the extra outputs and they'd be mixed in with the main outs.  Great feature!

*decades later*....a few years ago I controlled an ipad from my Modx for a while, with a single usb cable handling midi and audio.  The Modx allows you to create "zones" for external midi, and I set my ipad app(s) on specific channels and just left them running on the ipad.  If a zone sent midi on ch 10 for example, that would play B-3X.

Other than those couple of interludes, no midi live in 40 or so years of gigging (off and on).   I am contemplating setting something up between my Nord Stage 3 and Fantom for patch changes, but many of our gigs lately have been "dodgy" (meaning as far as weather) and I've mostly been sticking to one keyboard.

I do have a lot of midi experience in a couple studios with 20 or so modules/keyboards/fx units all midi-ed up, but the main thing that experience taught me is to appreciate being completely in the box now at home    I want no part of that logistical hassle when it comes to doing music in my home studio.

[counterpoint]

When using a two-keyboard set-up (currently Numa X 73 Piano & YC 61), MIDI DIN out Numa to MIDI DIN in YC to play YC AP's and EP's from Numa keyboard.  If need be, I can add a computer or IPad to either keyboard as both have USB Audio using the keyboards together or each as a single keyboard. 

 

When adding a computer, I usually connect it to the YC and I use Cantabile with a very simple set-up...just one Cantabile song file with all the synths I need (mostly Arturia V Collection synths) in that one song but responding to different MIDI channels tied to presets on the YC. 

 

While I haven't gigged with it yet, I could add an IPad running Korg Module and/or VB3m connected to either keyboard...or I could have both a computer and an IPad with a two-keyboard set-up...but I'm too old and impatient to want to set all that up properly...I couldn't imagine playing a gig that complicated where I would need to do that. 

 

OT a bit...with the two-keyboard set-up, I have usually run the YC audio (together with the computer) into the Numa X piano then from the Numa (which has a great little built-in mixer) in one feed to the FOH/monitor mixer, but I could run all of them separately as well.  I have a Presonus 24R which itself has USB audio capabilities, but I like to record gigs so I usually use that capability to connect to a second computer just to record.

 

Amazing to have all the flexibility we have these days...sometimes it's overwhelming...and I'm hardly scratching the surface of the capabilities my rig could have.

[Sean M. H.]

No MIDI for me...not because I'm against it or incapable of configuring it--but simply because I don't need it in my current scenarios.  There's several reasons why, but they include:

 

1) The user interfaces on my boards (a PC4 and a Fantom-07)...Between the number of programmable buttons/sliders and the favorites/setlist functionality of each board--I can swap between the sounds I need pretty much instantly on the fly.

 

2) My most active band doesn't really do setlists.  We call everything on the fly.

 

3) Similarly, our approach to performing each song is loose/free enough where I wouldn't really want one board to be controlling the sounds of the other board.  At any moment, the frontman might just throw me a solo, at which point, I can just jump to a synth lead on my top board, without putting any thought into what that might do to the bottom board.

 

4) my top board is typically used for synth leads, strings, horn lines, etc--all of which I can get by without a sustain pedal...so I don't use two separate pedals, nor do I need MIDI to pass one pedal thru to both.

 

 

Only thing I can think of where I'd occasionally want MIDI would be to control the PC4's organ sounds from the unweighted keybed of the Fantom-0 (probably in the minority here, but I prefer the Kurz B3 to Roland's)

...but since a) the Fantom-07 action is pretty cheap/crappy feeling, and b) they only put 8 sliders/drawbars on the Fantom-0 (yes I still SMH everytime I think about that decision)...it's not really worth the effort IMO

 

 

[Jwave]

16 hours ago, Delaware Dave said:

 

Put a Vent on the K2700's dry organ and there really isnt going to be anything soundwise that is disappointing.  I sometimes do this w/ the Forte, with an external leslie sim all the bases are covered.

When I got my Kurzweil PC4 in 2019, I initially reprogrammed all the B3 patches to disable Leslie and send to my Vent on output B. But then I found a “close enough for rock” fast Leslie patch by one Delaware Dave and have used that instead. When I need sounds I can’t get from my PC4, I use USB midi to my iPad.

[stoken6]

On 9/30/2024 at 7:12 PM, Mighty Motif Max said:

one keyboard as the sound source and “brain”, with the second functioning as a controller only

This for me. Plus MIDI from BandHelper for patch changes. Think of it as "one board, but two playing surfaces". No mixer required.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[AnotherScott]

I did quite a bit of MIDI in the 80s. I even wrote my own patch switching program that ran on a Mac Plus. The Mac was connected to a Jambox multi-port MIDI interface (connected to my various keyboards and modules). IIRC, I wrote the routing program itself in ZBASIC (with some 3rd-party MIDI extensions) and used HyperCard as a front end GUI. I would then be able to call up a song, and then using a footswitch, I could step through all the sounds I would need for that song, changing the routing and the patches on all the attached gear as needed.

 

Today, the individual keyboards are more capable and my needs are simpler, and so my MIDI uses are not only simpler but also fewer and farther between. And I'm kind of amazed at what I used to be able to do, because that skill set is long gone! But I periodically toy with doing more. Luckily, I would no longer have to code anything. I would use probably Keystage or Camelot Pro on an iPad, or Gig Performer on a laptop. Currently I've been playing with a Keystage-based iPad as sound source for my common 2-board quick-setup rig (though I haven't gigged with that yet), and next I'd like to integrate more MIDI into a (rarely used) "big setup" for my other band (which is 3-5 boards plus sound modules).

[RABid]

I've been all over, from a stack of synths with nothing connected to a computer on stage sequencing a drum machine and 3 synths while I played a separate synth. One of my favorite setups was the original Fantom connected to a loaded Roland 5080, V-Synth XT, Korg M3m with VA expansion, and VK8m. All of the modules but the VK8m were hidden and so many people thought that wall of sound was coming from the Fantom only. Now, just give me a good, modern do it all ROMpler. 

 

Having said that, I bought a Fantom 7 thinking it would be perfect, and it would but the thing is just too heavy for my aging body. If I was playing out now it would probably be a good feeling but light weight controller and a MacBookAir.

[harmonizer]

All my live keyboard gear is hardware. I do have a MIDI cable going from MIDI out on my Roland PK5a footpedal MIDI controller into my Roland FA-07, so I can trigger piano chords or synth/horn noises on 3 specific songs while both my hands are occupied playing the sax.

[NewImprov]

I use a fair amount of USB MIDI in my live rigs, but no 5-pin, at least at the moment.

 

My big rig is a Rhodes with an Arturia Keylab 61 on top, and a 2nd stand with a dual manual Crumar Mojo with a Sequential Take 5 on top. I have a rack with a Radial KL-8,and an iConnectivity MIO XM midi interface. My laptop sits on top of the rack, running Mainstage. The Arturia is the only controller for Mainstage, but Mainstage sends program changes to the Take 5 as well. My Rhodes runs through a pedalboard, and since several of my pedals are MIDI-controllable, I've thought about automating patch changes for specific tunes, but haven't patched/programmed that yet.

 

My smaller rig subs out the Rhodes for a Korg Grandstage 73, and, depending on stage size, I leave the Take 5 home, and sub a Hammond XK-1C for the Crumar. In this setup, I'm only using the internal sounds on the Grandstage and XK, but Mainstage sends the program changes to both.

 

My smallest rig is just the Crumar and Take 5, with no computer and no MIDI.

[JimboKeys]

Motif XF, DTX-Multi12 drum pads, and a couple controller keyboards, all running into a laptop with Cantabile, with a mix of USB and DIN MIDI.  Song selection on the Motif is forwarded to the drum pads and selects the appropriate song and VST's in Cantabile.  MIDI from all the keyboards is routed via Cantabile into whatever sound source(s) as needed for the song - no limit to how many zones are used.  A mixer on my pedalboard mixes sounds from the Motif, drum pads, and VST output from the computer.  (When i get wild i also have a MIDI-to-DMX512 converter which takes signals from the drum pads to flash varying colors on a fixture mounted to my keyboard stand, depending on which pad is hit.)

 

-- Jimbo

 

[Bill W]

My live rig is a single Kronos 61. There's no MIDI, but I use a Logidy UMI3 to trigger samples and that's connected via USB to the Kronos.

[Ibarch]

The church I play at has [my] venerable Roland RD-300SX stage piano. I use this as a controller and use my Windows Surface Pro Laptop for VST instruments, a mix of Steinberg Grand 3 pianos, Keyscape for electric piano, Omnisphere, Halion 7 and Zenology Pro for pads and strings and even a Korg M1 for organ patches. 

 

Everything is setup and controlled in Steinberg VST Live, with a Korg Nanokontrol2 midi controller to provide volume faders, mute/solo buttons, rotary knobs for random stuff like reverb level on one patch, and transport buttons for patch changes. It runs over USB MIDI connections with an Arturia Minifuse audio interface. VST Live can do some clever midi mapping such as mapping the Sustain CC64 message to CC66 Sostenuto for some layers. This enables me to use a single pedal for Sustain on keys and Sostenuto on pads. Saves trying to use two pedals at once and falling over. 

 

I also run Songbook Pro for chords and lyrics and a web browser for controlling the headless Soundcraft Ui24R mixer off the same Surface Pro computer. Being able to run in tablet form and provide a touchscreen means it fits on a music stand and I can effortlessly turn pages, adjust in ears monitors for the rest of the band just by touch.

 

It's an amazing lightweight all in one solution I could not of imagined a decade ago. The heaviest component is the power brick for the laptop - no miracle Apple silicon battery life on Windows... yet. The whole chebang takes 5 mins to assemble, mainly plugging in the 3 usb cables and remembering to move the Jack output to the Minifuse - how many times do I start a service with that still plugged into the RD-300sx! 

 

 

For my indie pop originals band, no midi at all. Just a single Fantom 07 keyboard that does everything when connected to the correct player... Me. For gigs with minimal time to set between bands it is quick and simple. Full setlist set on the board with a predefined patch (scene) per song. Press one button to move to next song ang go. After a long week at work, simplicity is essential for Fri evening gigs. Being an originals band makes it easy too. No pressure to match well known professionally designed sounds. Every patch sounds just the way I want it, making the best use of the single board I have. 

[cphollis]

I realized a while back that the more stuff I brought to a gig, the less fun I was having.  Pursuing a minimalist path means I only use a single 5-pin midi cable to add a weighted controller to my main board.  No external mixer or FX -- just a DI to get my sound to the mixer and a nice pair of headphones to listen to the festivities.

 

I made my living working for IT vendors and am often described as a geek. I'm not reluctant to use newer tech -- if it serves my purpose.  Playing with DAWs and plugins at home brings me back to my childhood days with chemistry kits and similar -- great fun experimenting with stuff.  But not for gigging.

[DanL]

I've always used midi in some capacity unless it's a single board gig. Right now, Most of my gigs consist of a Stage 3 compact and Wave 2. I midi from the stage to the wave to send patch changes and sometimes layer in a wave sound with the stage. For years that's been how I use midi, having 1 master board control my other synths for ease at my gigs.

 

With my Floyd band rig, I'm also using an ipad to trigger sound effects. For the ipad setup, I have midi out from the stage going into a thru box, one out from the thru goes to a presonus studio 24c audio interface which connects to the ipad via it's connector, and another output from the thru goes to the wave for the previously mentioned patch changes and layering capability. I have the lowest note on the stage set to trigger the samples. The app, called Go Button, will play the sample and then hop down the list to the next one, so all I do is put them in show order, and hit the E key to play them. Super easy. 

 

I have a small form factor computer that I recently set up dedicated to gig performer, but I'm still trying to get a grasp on how to get things done with it. I want it to replace the ipad for sound effects, be able to play some vst's where needed, run some sequencing things, and control all the midi flow. I want to be hands off of the computer during the show, with all the program changes initiated by the Stage, then have GP call up the samples I need, open the sequencer, send program change info to the Wave. I have a lot of work to do with it. The routing/wiring part in the app is easy, and I have figured out how to trigger the sequencer to start and stop by using markers in a wave file, but I haven't figured out how to control it from the Stage.

 

[eric]

This is a fun topic! In recent years, my use of MIDI has been fairly limited. I've been doing the single keyboard thing for the past 15 years or so, with mainly Nord Stage 2 or 3 as the primary keyboard. I do have a MIDI cable in my snake that goes to my offstage rack. For 5+ years, I had a Motif XS Rack unit that I was using quite a bit, sending program changes and a few other things from my Nord's external section. When I moved from NS2 to NS3, I pushed myself to simplify and removed the Motif XS Rack from my rig. I still miss that firepower from time to time, so earlier this year I acquired a Roland XV3080, which I started to integrate and kind of lost interest in it, due to having more time needed for learning new songs vs. painstakingly programming the MIDI chain.

 

Back in the '80s, I was crazy about MIDI! I had the JL Cooper MSB+ in my rack for a few years, wrangling control of multiple rack modules. That thing was kind of a beast to program, though I got the hang of it. Eventually, I found this little hardware MIDI switch box made by Audio-Technica. It had one MIDI in and four MIDI outs, with a hardware toggle switch for each. I was mostly using my Roland JX-8P as a controller for some rack and offstage synth gear, so I had the box labeled with whatever was being controlled, e.g. Korg M1R, DX7IIFD, Emu piano module, etc. I remember when I would turn the various streams on and off to send program changes to different modules.

 

I still have that Audio-Technica box somewhere. I'll have to dig it up and see if my old labels are on there. I'll share a picture if I find it.

 

I remember always being extremely fascinated with the old KB Mag articles that featured artists using huge racks of modules and I always aspired for that type of rig.

[DJkeys]

Two boards, Nord Stage 3, midi out to Nord Wave 2.  One midi cable NS3-NW2. Song mode in NS3 (up to 5 patches per song) sends program changes. No software, computers, phones, etc.  From the old school.  All songs and lyrics memorized so I can focus on entertaining the audience-

 

 

-dj

[vonnor]

To answer my own question, I've been way over on the tech-head side of things since the mid 80's. My thing was not wanting to touch anything during a show except keys, wheels, paddles and other controllers. In the early days ('81-'84) I had to manually change the organ, Omni, MemoryMoog patch, and MiniMoog knobs between tunes. It was a pain.

 

When MIDI arrived on the scene, I was in heaven. Finally there was a way to change "patches" between songs without touching the front panels on the boards. In the late 80's I picked up a Lake Butler Midi-Mitigator foot controller and learned how to program the byte streams for that. I used it to send Program Change events to a Digital Music MX-8 MIDI patch-bay/processor that did all the in/out routing, controller mapping, filtering, from three controllers (Roland RD250s, KX-76, ESQ-1) to all the sound generating devices (EPS-M, TX-802, Matrix-1000, ESQ-1 which ran LOCAL-CONTROL=OFF). The rack units being "thru" chained and on unique MIDI channels. I could program the setlist order into the Foot Controller and just stomp it once between tunes.

 

Today I gig with NS4 and a Kronos2, both with LOCAL=OFF. All midi events run to a MOTU 4x4 patch-bay and then to the laptop via USB hub. Cantabile handles all the MIDI routing, filtering, CC mapping, key-ranges, splits, layers, 8ve transpose, etc., and sends the MIDI events out to the desired sound generation device (Nord section/panel, Kronos Combi-track, Halion Sonic, Jup-8v, Diva, etc). RME Fireface-UC audio interface acts as a mixer for audio, and a D/A converter for the VSTs. Round-trip latency with Cantabile and the RME typically 8-14 msec. Close enough for rock-n-roll.

 

An FAMC LiquidFoot +mini replaces the Lake Butler setlist holder that triggers Song changes in Cantabile. I order the songs in that before each gig.

 

I still schlep around the two boards in gig-bags, stand, hard-wired pedalboard, 3U Rack, and two laptops, LiquidFoot, and some cables, in a utility bag.

 

~ vonnor

[The Despicable MC]

My stage rig depends on the demand of the gig.

I have a Kurzweil K1200 Pro for gigs with only piano, LH bass, nothing else.  No MIDI.

I used to do restaurant gigs with my buddy until a year ago.  Most gigs were close to ocean coast.  Not much outside of piano/organ, too many guitar songs - I carted my Andromeda and Hammond XK3 clonewheel though a Leslie 760.  No MIDI.

 

For the heavy demands, ten years ago I built a MIDI rig built around my Kurzweil MIDIBoard.  The MIDIBoard is a very power MIDI controller.  I have shown this system before so no need to repeat that.  The only stuff that is on stage is the MIDIBoard, Hammond XK3, and optional MIDI bass pedal controller.  

Everything else is racked in cases and prewired off stage with 25ft cabling.  Other than the Leslie cable from the Hammond (to a Leslie simulator in the rack), every cable is MIDI.  All the rack devices - romplers, mono synths, polysynths, FX - are MIDI controlled. My mixer is a plain jane line mixer whose channel level settings are fixed, I set the levels of all MIDI devices using MIDI volume control.  I developed a "tune up" MIDI program in the MIDIBoard for tuning the analog synths and making sure the levels of all devices are the same.

 

I divided sections of MIDI devices into four rack cases to give me modularity based on the genre I am playing - if I'm playing R&B then I don't need the racks with synths.

 

MIDIBoard is command central for all MIDI settings on all devices between songs.  My JLCooper MSB+ is the master MIDI matrix control for routing MIDI.  The Hammond doubles as a MIDI controller for songs that have no organ parts (the CANCEL preset DOES store MIDI settings!).  The MIDI bass pedals (Moog Taurus II bass pedals with MIDI retrofit) only transmit on one MIDI channel, default is the Minitaur in the rack but I can transpose the MIDI channel of the pedals using my JLCooper MSB+ if I want to control or layer other MIDI devices.

 

Some may accuse me of old school - the truth is I invested enough $$$ in this system, it has worked very well, and I have no compelling reason to replace anything with USB or anything else.  The audience doesn't care if I am using MIDI or USB.